Driver Pleads Guilty To Killing Pedestrian

BRISTOL — The woman who ran down and killed a Southington volunteer firefighter last year pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that could put her in prison for up to eight years.

Audrey Shreder, 42, of Southington, admitted in court that she was drunk when she drove into Carl Morris and his fiancee, Jennifer McMahon, as they walked along the shoulder of Buckland Street. McMahon suffered a broken arm, but Morris died of his injuries nine days later.

As Morris' relatives looked on grimly at Superior Court in Bristol, Shreder pleaded guilty to each charge that Judge Curtissa Cofield read aloud: drunken driving, second-degree manslaughter with a vehicle and evading responsibility.

Shreder's attorney and Senior Assistant State's Attorney Ronald Dearstyne initially had agreed on a plea deal that would have guaranteed Shreder no more than six years in prison. But Cofield held out for the flexibility to give a stiffer sentence.

``I did upgrade the plea agreement so I'd have more room to work with. I'm not indicating that I'm going to give the eight years, but I want eight years to work with,'' Cofield explained as Shreder stood before her in leg shackles. ``This is an extremely serious situation.''

Shreder admitted that she kept driving after hitting the couple, but said in a soft voice that she didn't know at the time what had happened.

Less than 20 minutes after hitting the couple, Shreder drove head-on into another car on Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike. Only minor injures were reported in the second accident.

Police said she slurred her words, staggered around her car, and cursed as she refused a sobriety test. Tests at a hospital about five hours later showed her blood-alcohol level between 0.13 percent and 0.14 percent; the legal limit is 0.08 percent. Two doctors estimated that her blood-alcohol level would have been 0.18 percent to 0.26 percent at the time of the Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike crash, Dearstyne said.

Shreder showed signs of being intoxicated when she arrived late in the afternoon of June 4, 2003, at the South Main Street apartment she shared with her daughter, Stacey, Dearstyne said. Later in the evening, Shreder and her daughter argued about her drinking, and Shreder prepared to drive off.

``It was obvious to her daughter that her mother was drunk. She tried to stop her, but her mother would not give her the keys,'' Dearstyne said.

Shreder drove off in her Chevrolet Cavalier and hit Morris and McMahon along a dark stretch of roadway in the rain, Dearstyne said.

Morris, 43, was a trucking company owner and 20-year volunteer firefighter in Southington.

After the head-on crash on Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike, Shreder told police nothing about the hit and run, and investigators didn't arrest her until two months later. She has been in jail since Aug. 25, 2003.

Shreder theoretically could have faced 20 1/2 years in prison if she had gone to trial and been convicted of all three charges.

Under the plea bargain, Cofield can order no more than an eight-year term when she sentences Shreder on Dec. 21.

Morris' relatives have said they may speak at the sentencing. McMahon did not attend Wednesday's court session, but sent word that she did not object to the plea deal.

``The person whose death you caused was a responsible man who was a volunteer firefighter for the town of Southington for many years,'' Cofield said before judicial marshals led Shreder away.